Legal aid counsel not ready with the matter but argued the matter
6. This was a case where the appellant was convicted for the offence punishable under Section 302 of the IPC and was sentenced to undergo life imprisonment. Therefore, it was a duty of the Court to give a reasonable time to the advocate appointed to go through the file and get ready to assist the Court. Apart from adopting the submissions made by the co-accused, it appears that the advocate appointed to espouse the cause of the appellant made a submission that the appellant did not share common intention to commit the murder with the co-accused. The very fact that such submission is made shows that the advocate was not ready with the matter, as there was no conviction of the appellant with the aid of Section 34 of the IPC. Obviously, the advocate was not aware that Section 34 of the IPC was not invoked by the Trial Court and therefore, she has argued as if the appellant was convicted with the aid of Section 34 of the IPC. This happened obviously because the appointed advocate was not given time to prepare herself. There were 20 prosecution witnesses in this case.
Advocate appointed to represent accused was not granted even a reasonable time to prepare herself
7. The object of appointing an advocate to espouse the cause of the appellant who was unrepresented was to ensure that justice is done to him. The High Court decided the appeal on the same day on which the advocate was appointed. In this case, the advocate appointed to represent accused was not granted even a reasonable time to prepare herself. Therefore, the impugned judgment insofar as relates to the appeal preferred by the appellant-Niranjan Das is concerned will have to be set aside and the appeal will have to be remanded to the High court.
Party
Niranjan Das @ Niru Das @ Mahanto vs The State of West Bengal – Criminal Appeal Nos.2643-2644 of 2023 (arising out of SLP(crl) Nos: 6854-6855 of 2023) – August 29, 2023.
https://main.sci.gov.in/supremecourt/2023/1810/1810_2023_7_29_46556_Judgement_29-Aug-2023.pdf
Niranjan Das vs. The State of W.B
